AM I ALLOWED?
You’re not allowed to!
A friend has just moved into her brand new apartment in a brand new development in the middle of Sydney. To me it seems huge, ugly (as most new developments seem to be), expensive, claustrophobic, lonely, but also without privacy (so many other apartments with the ability to peer directly into hers), but most disturbingly there are so many rules and regulations. We went for a walk around the ‘gardens’ (mostly concrete with a few token trees and water feature). It seemed not possible to admire the environment (how can you admire hundreds of apartments on top of one another) and then there was the enclosed, almost stifling and crippling energy that was all pervasive, so instead, the walk involved pointing out many apartments that were apparently ‘breaking the rules’ and were definitely going to be punished for so doing. This included the wrong curtains hung at windows (apparently the ‘rule’ states they all need to be in the one colour on the outside so the hundreds of apartments look ‘uniform’ (I am now quietly shivering, not from cold, but the thought of making humans conform to such control and rigidity), then there was a number of apartments with laundry hung on balconies (a big no-no!), next was incorrect material used to enclose the very exposed balconies, another non-conformity, and on and on and on the observations went. Now I must point out at this stage, my friend is over-the-moon happy. She apparently loves this. I bravely questioned who would police this rule breaking (seemed to me an impossible task) WRONG! There are ‘apartment police’ and these culprits will be fined. Really? And this is called LIVING??? What are we doing to the human soul?
NANNY STATE
“According to Wikipedia Nanny state is a term of British origin that conveys a view that a government or its policies are overprotective or interfering unduly with personal choice”
Australia is fast becoming “the world’s dumbest nation” because of nanny state rules and restrictions, says Canadian journalist and magazine publisher Tyler Brûlé.
“This country is on the verge of becoming the world’s dumbest nation. There will be a collapse of commonsense here if health and safety wins out on every single discussion,” he said. And whilst he is focused on urban design and lock out laws etc. there is a definite Nanny State mentality when it comes to pregnancy and birth.
THE NANNY STATE AND BIRTH
Never is the NANNY STATE more evident when it comes to pregnancy and birthing, where not only ‘choice’ for the birthing woman has become an almost alarmist word but the basic rights of mother and baby overlooked. If a woman cannot assert her choice and rights when it comes to birthing, what hope is there?
If these choices are not acknowledged at the very beginning of life then it is not surprising a human can end up in a large apartment development, easily accepting and adapting to the removal of choice.
BUT AM I ALLOWED? Or WILL THEY LET ME?
Are the 2 most common questions I hear from pregnant women. They are almost shocked that I offer them choice. This is your pregnancy, your labour, your birth and your baby. You are not sick. You do not need ‘fixing’. Pregnancy is the time to start parenting, standing up for your baby’s rights and choices and not giving in to the controlling rules that invade many an otherwise beautiful birth. We surely want our next generation to grow up knowing and believing in their right to choice, otherwise we are at risk of becoming a community without soul, easily accepting control and rigid rules.
Want to change this for women? then book into our Inside Birth Childbirth Educator training in Nov.
https://birthright.com.au/training/inside-birth-childbirth-educator-training/
